Monday, February 25, 2008

The Pav Says… I’m Ready for an Introduction

Originally Posted by MMA Junkie on February 20, 2008 at 6:00 pm ET

By way of formal introduction, I am Ken Pavia. I am “The Pav” — and I make dreams come true. Please indulge me in my story.

Close your eyes. Not literally. If you did you couldn’t read the article. So, close them figuratively. You are just completing a strenuous workout, part cardio, and part anaerobic. You body feels heavy and has already begun to ache, particularly around your neck and shoulders. Now imagine that your are drenched in sweat, standing on an ice rink and covered in 100 lbs. of wet goalie equipment. Your body is in a constant state of tension, but you are trying to relax to allow reflexes to take over — Jedi style. It is late at night and steam is rising from the ice, hindering your ability to see.

The puck is in your zone, up by the blue line. In short, it is a fair distance but close enough to load up and shoot. You subtly bait the shooter by moving slightly out of position, showing him a little daylight high over your glove. You squint through the burning of sweat and hair gel (OK, my personal touch), trying to pick up the puck through the steam. The shooter seizes the opportunity and fires a slap shot toward the opening, using all he can muster from his lats, forearms and ultimately, wrists. The puck makes its way through traffic as your defensemen clear a path. You stretch, fully extending with what little energy you have left as vulcanized rubber traveling upwards of 100 mph finds the depth of the pocket of your glove. The feeling is so surreal you hold the glove in the air and pose it for three seconds — seconds that seem like an eternity. For me, this was a high that would make me forsake all else — that is until I began my love affair with MMA.

After law school and 12 years of experience representing athletes, I turned to representing fighters three years ago. Now, I am the very best MMA sports agent — period — and I make dreams come true. I provided my hockey story so that you could conceptualize the extreme emotion that I feel every day, both high and low. By virtue of my vested emotions, I share the success and exhilarations of my clients in and out of the cage. I agonize in their defeats, and when they move on to their next fight months down the road, I hang up the phone and do it all over again. Drugs were never my thing, but I understand. When working I am Ken Pavia; at play I am “The Pav” (and by and through “The Pav” says…). I seek to shed some light on my love affair from the perspective of both Ken Pavia and The Pav.

Ken Pavia works from 10 a.m. until 4 a.m. seven days a week. He travels three weeks a month, lives out of his suitcase, logs 6,000 cell-phone minutes a month, responds to upward of 100 emails a day, and shoulders the immense burden, which he takes very personally, of the livelihood of 50 elite-level clients. He is proud to call Sherdog.com’s Jeff Sherwood, Strikeforce’s Scott Coker, and UFC matchmaker Joe Silva friends, and fields post-midnight calls from them frequently. He respects the super human discipline and willingness to sacrifice of Phil Baroni, the focus and vision of Sean Salmon, the moral center of Falaniko Vitale, the life balance of Chris Lytle, the resilience of Jake O’Brien, the loyalty of Vince Lucero, and the cultivated natural gifts of Joe Riggs. Ken Pavia works on MMAagents.com every day.

The Pav sits ringside when he is not in the corner, sees what happens when the cameras go dark, knows the rest of the story, kicks it hard at his Huntington Beach, Calif. beach house whenever possible, and enjoys the company of the fairer sex, a lot. He is proud to call “Razor” Rob McCullough, Tiki, Tito Ortiz, David “The Crow” Loiseau and CombatLifestyles.com’s Tracy Lee friends. He respects the power of Baroni and Tito to command a crowd, the ability of James Thompson and Anthony Johnson to make him laugh uncontrollably, the devil that hides behind the sheepish smile of the Bruise Brothers Mike Pyle and Martin Kampmann, and Justin McCully for always knowing the move, angle and hustle. The Pav works on www.myspace.com/kenpavia every day.

Jimmy Valvano, in his speech at the ESPYs in 1993, while riddled with cancer, declared a life credo that I seek to live by to this day. He said:

To me, there are three things we all should do every day. We should do this every day of our lives. Number one is laugh. You should laugh every day. Number two is think. You should spend some time in thought. And number three is, you should have your emotions moved to tears, could be happiness or joy. But think about it. If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that’s a full day. That’s a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you’re going to have something special.

He died less then two months later.

So get on the bandwagon and put on your seatbelt for the bumpy ride that will be “The Pav Says…” every week here on MMAjunkie.com and on MMAagents.com. And remember: I am Ken Pavia, I am The Pav — and I make dreams come true.

Ken Pavia runs Pavia, Ciscone, & Associates (MMAAgents.com), one of MMA’s biggest sports agencies and one that represents approximately 50 MMA fighters. “The Pav” is a former MMAjunkie.com contributor who has returned to pen his weekly “The Pav Says…” column for the site. The column will give readers a behind-the-scenes look at an MMA agent’s career representing some of the sport’s biggest stars. His views do not necessarily reflect those of MMAjunkie.com and its staff.